


day 9: i heard it's obvious (this thing between us)

by halfwheeze



Series: thirty ways to wreck a train [9]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety, Getting Together, M/M, Third Wheel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 12:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14019858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: it really takes one thing to feel like the world is coming down around your ears, doesn't it?





	day 9: i heard it's obvious (this thing between us)

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is day nine of a 30-day series I'm trying out! I can't say that I'll be fantastic at it, but I'm gonna try!
> 
> day nine is third wheeling! Hope you enjoy!

It’s not really often that they hang out, just the three of them or all three of them or whichever way makes more sense, but Ryan thinks it’s a good idea; he knows they get along. He and Steven are friends, even if he does get a kick out of calling the kid  _ Steve _ instead of  _ Steven _ and even if Steven gets sassy with him after a minute of two of getting comfortable. He calls Steven ‘kid’ even though the kid is older than him, but he’s just so happy. He seems young. He also knows that Steven and Shane get along fine, because of a smattering of videos they’ve done together over their mutual years of being content creators for Buzzfeed. And, obviously, he and Shane get along. So, he thinks it’s a good idea to invite Steven along with him and Shane to go out one night, only for it to blow up in his face. 

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Not without Adam or Andrew or someone to make eye contact with whenever you and Shane pull and Ryan and Shane. I am  _ not  _ third wheeling with the two of you,” Steven says, all in one go like he always does, not even taking a breath. It takes a moment for it to compute (because honestly, who the fuck talks that fast?) and Ryan narrows his eyes. Third wheeling? That would imply that he and Shane… oh God. Does Steven think they’re together? Does everyone think they’re together? He’s halfway through a meltdown between one moment and the next, going through every moment he and Shane have ever had in front of other people. They’re just friends. They have to be just friends. 

“Woah, what’s up with Ryan?” Shane’s voice breaks through, distracting Ryan mildly from the panic, though not enough. Steven says something that swims and then there is a hand on Ryan’s forearm, pulling him into a room that is dimmer, like a filming room that no one has a set up in yet. Words are breaking through the hesitant haze crawling ever so slowly over Ryan’s mind like saran wrap, able to see through but with no air. Shane’s hands, because even in a haze, he would recongnise his best friend’s hands on his face anywhere, because Steven is  _ right, fuck,  _ are running soft lines along the arch of Ryan’s eyebrows, along his cheekbones and down the planes of his face. The grounding factor is not one that Ryan can ignore, and he feels himself come down from the edge. 

“Hey little guy. What happened?” Shane asks, his voice soft but teasing, just enough so that the softness doesn’t make Ryan feel overwhelmed and dumb. He relaxes against Shane despite himself, the other man moving a little to accomadate the weight against his shoulder. He doesn’t seem to mind, but that’s the thing, isn’t it? If Steven and prospectively everyone else thinks that he and Shane are something to thirdwheel upon, well, it takes two to tango. The bubble of hope beneath his diaphragm is dizzying, and Ryan wants to squash it out himself rather than having Shane do it later. 

“I - something Steve said. I didn’t know it would be bad for me, so I know that he didn’t know it would be bad for me, so it’s totally not his fault. Just Ryan being scared of his own shadow,” Ryan laughs, the self deprecation turning it a little sour, bitter near the end. Shane’s eyes are still narrowed, so the attempt at humor doesn’t really cover anything that Ryan wants it to, so that’s not great. There’s a space of silence that reaches between them and cuts the air, putting some perspective on how close they are very quickly. Instead of wrenching back like Ryan expects him to, Shane pulls him just a little closer - not close enough for it to really mean something, but just enough to hold him like he means something. 

“You okay?” Shane asks, like they’re not chest to chest like dancers in a cheesy ‘65 film that Ryan’s mother would love. Even though he’s not sure it’s a good idea, Ryan squeezes Shane closer to him, settling his nose in Shane’s collarbone. Shane’s arms tighten around his shoulders and Ryan decides quickly that it doesn’t matter if it was a particularly good idea, because the results are worth it. “You okay?” Shane repeats, jostling them a little, like a little kid trying to knock someone over as they hug. Ryan laughs and jostles them in the other direction a little. He doesn’t think about how the laugh is a little wet. 

“I’m okay, I think,” Ryan says when Shane doesn’t tilt them again, and neither of them move from their caricature of best friend intimacy. Neither of them  _ want  _ to move, and both of them are quite into following the ideas of their wants rather than their forward most social conventions. 

“What did Steven say?” Shane asks eventually, too long for them to have gone silent and holding onto each other, really. He’s not sure why Steven himself hasn’t peaked in on them quite yet, and Ryan blanches as he realises he’ll actually have to answer the question. He doesn’t know how to explain anything about his reaction to another living, breathing human being, let alone Shane himself in the dim of a room Ryan is  _ one hundred percent sure  _ he’s never been inside of before. It may very well be one of the rooms usually used by the Try Guys and Ladylike girls, because it doesn’t have the atmosphere of the regular filming rooms innocuous videos are filmed in. It might be the event rather than the room. They’re still hugging. This is getting to be strange. 

“He… implied he would be third wheeling by going out with us tonight. Yeah, I don’t know either,” Ryan explains against Shane’s throat, waiting to be pushed away. Instead of doing that, Shane simply tenses around Ryan, and it’s like he wasn’t holding Ryan tight before at all. Now, it’s like he’s stiff and feels weird and Ryan knows he made it weird and the balloon of hope is popped, releasing helium into his chest cavity. That’s when Shane pulls back a little, now able to look him in the face. 

“That’s a problem? Most people imply that being with us is like that,” Shane says, but the tone is all wrong. It’s tight and tense and anxious and Ryan doesn’t like it one fucking bit. He wants to pull that expression out of Shane’s repertoire and throw it into the nearest garbage can, but that’s incredibly impractical. Ryan swallows, trying to come up with any explanation besides  _ I’m hopelessly in love with you, and if everyone thinks so, everyone  _ **_knows_ ** _.  _ He’s committed to an answer before he can talk himself out of it, and he’s still mentally coaching himself when he starts. 

“I know, it’s just… if I tell you now, no one can tell you later. Okay, you can do this, Bergara. Okay, well, you see. It’s bad for me when one of our friends implies it out of the blue because if they know, then you’ll figure it out eventually. I’m crazy over you, and, from what I hear, kind of obviously from what I keep hearing about it,” Ryan admits, all at once, and feels a weight off of his shoulders. Shane’s expression flits through four different ones before settling on what Ryan can only describe as  _ pleased, _ and Ryan loves that look. He could fall in love with that look. 

“Me too,” Shane replies, quiet, and then Ryan is being kissed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a prompt @halfwheeze on tumblr, and I'll get to it when I can!


End file.
